Andrew Ference

Boston Bruins alternate captain Andrew Ference supports LGBT athletes and the You Can Play Project and he found a unique way to show it.

Andrew had been Tweeting about the November Project, a group that does free, early morning workouts in Boston. Andrew had previously expressed his admiration for You Can Play when Vancouver Canucks players Manny Malhotra and Jason Garrison marched with You Can Play and the local gay hockey team in the August's Vancouver Pride Parade.

Patrick Burke started joking with Andrew about what it would take to get Patrick out of bed that early to run the Harvard stadium steps. Thanks to the generosity of You Can Play's Twitter followers and Andrew himself, it turns out that "what it takes" is over $3,500 donated to You Can Play to help end homophobia in sports.

Hockey blogger Winter Adams showed up to document Burkie's pain and suffering, and the very generous guys at Strewnshank Productions (http://strewnshank.com/) donated cameras, filming, and editing for the event.

Thanks to Andrew and Burkie for leading the way with this effort. You Can Play co-founders Brian Kitts and Glenn Witman look forward (kind of) to following up on their effort by running the stairs at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.